The United States in the forties. It is the most developed industrial country in the world, after the outbreak of Pearl Harbor, factories all over the United States were running at full capacity for wartime material production, aircraft carriers and destroyers, fighter planes and bombers, tanks and jeeps, and a large number of artillery guns and ammunition were continuously produced, loaded on free ships from the docks on the west coast and east coast, and sailed to Britain, the Soviet Union, India, and every place where American aid was needed.

China's ports have all fallen into enemy hands, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the last land passage for foreign aid, has also been cut off, leaving only air channels to use, and American supplies are first shipped to India, then loaded onto C47 transport planes, transported to Kunming through the dangerous Himalayan hump route, and then loaded and transported to various theaters of war across the country.

Every barrel of gasoline and every box of ammunition is sent after a lot of hard work, and it is in the name of leasing or aid, and there is no need for the Chinese government to pay a penny, and these rare materials, distributed to Chinese officials, will appear on the black market the next day.

Lieutenant Colonel Chand, who had experienced the torture of the internment camps and the famine behind enemy lines, seemed to have attained nirvana, and he became resolute and selfless, especially in the distribution of aid, and won the trust of his immediate superior, Lieutenant General Stilwell.

Stilwell is the one who is really in charge of the distribution of US aid materials, but he spends most of his time in India or Kunming, responsible for commanding the army, deploying fighter brigades, and other major matters, and specific affairs such as gasoline and grain are still handed over to the quartermaster, so Lieutenant Colonel Chandes has become the person with the right to sign and make decisions.

The lieutenant colonel and Tang Enbo have a grudge, but it is unrealistic to say that a drop of gasoline is not given to the can, after all, this is American military aid, and Tang Enbo's troops are fighting in Henan, which is the first line of the battlefield, Henan is lost, Tongguan is not guaranteed, and the northwest and southwest are all dangerous, so what should be given still has to be given, but Chandes requires that every barrel of gasoline must be signed by Tang Enbo, and track the use, for which he also sent several lieutenants to the soup department to supervise, in short, he tried every means to find Tang Enbo unhappy.

Tang Enbo was Chiang Kai-shek's favorite general, and he was specially sent to complain, but Chiang Kai-shek had no choice, even he could not give the order to Chandes, and the commissioner himself fell into extreme pain and anxiety, because the hateful American chief of staff Stilwell, he was bent on putting the Chinese army under his command and wanted to put the chairman in the air, which was absolutely inadmissible.

In China, military power is the most important, and if you lose military power, no matter how high your prestige is, Chiang Kai-shek, who was born as the principal of Whampoa, deeply understands this, if he didn't control the Whampoa student army, what would he do to compete with veterans like Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei.

The head can be broken and the blood can be shed, and the military power must not be released, especially not to an American.

China needs material assistance from the United States, the United States needs the Chinese battlefield to drag down the Japanese troops, the two sides have a common goal, but they have been bumping and bumping, the United States originally promised to keep 500 fighters in the air force in China, 5,000 tons of materials per month, but the air force is not in place, the materials are insufficient, the distribution plan is completely determined by the United States, the Chinese have no right to participate in the distribution of materials, these all make the committee very headache.

Stilwell was a stubborn old man in the United States, he despised the chairman very much, and even privately nicknamed the chairman Peanut, Chiang Kai-shek was not unaware of this, but on the surface he still maintained his demeanor, because he needed American aid too much, and this demand even exceeded the American demand for China.

Therefore, the chairman of the committee could only do a perfunctory thing and coax Tang Enbo away.

Back in the inner room, Song Meiling saw that he was worried, so she asked if Stilwell made you angry again, Chiang Kai-shek said not only Stilwell, Americans talk about freedom and equality on the surface, but in fact they are not equal at all, and they just want China to help them unconditionally, but they don't want to pay the price, which is really hateful.

Song Meiling thought for a while and said, "We need a contact person who has a good relationship with the US side to lubricate the bad relationship between the two sides." ”

Chiang Kai-shek said: "Isn't Ziwen in the United States, he is a top student at Harvard University, proficient in English, and he is not at a loss." ”

Song Meiling said: "Ziwen is not a soldier, and he naturally can't have the strength to deal with soldiers, I have a candidate, he is a graduate of West Point Military Academy, proficient in English, and Stilwell is an old friend for 20 years, and Lieutenant Colonel Chandes is a West Point roommate, the relationship between the upper and lower bunks, and the grace of saving lives, invite him out of the mountain, and he will definitely be able to open up the situation." ”

Chiang Kai-shek snorted coldly: "I know who you are talking about, but I don't know if he is willing or not." ”

Song Meiling said: "Zikun has some temper, but people with a temper often have real skills, those villains who have no temper and are only willing to promise are a lot of them, can it work, Daling you write a handwritten letter, I think Zikun must be willing to go out of the mountain." ”

Chiang Kai-shek let out a long sigh: "For the sake of the country, I have to do this." ”

……

Lieutenant Colonel Chandes did not forget that it was Chen Zikun and the fathers and elders of Jiangbei, who saved food to save themselves, and the grace of dripping water should be reciprocated by a spring, not to mention the grace of saving lives.

At the field airfield in the countryside of Jiangbei, a US military C47 transport plane swayed and landed, this kind of DC3 passenger plane was transformed into a military transport plane with thick and sturdy tires, huge tires, bouncing and gliding on the simple runway, slowly stopped, a large number of soldiers with yellow faces and thin muscles surrounded them, and moved out of the cabin a heavy cardboard box with foreign characters printed on it.

On the colorful canned wrapping paper, there is a coloring picture printed with meat pieces, which is eaten!

A few hungry soldiers who couldn't stand it pulled out their bayonets and pried open the can, and hurriedly took out the pink pieces of minced meat inside and stuffed them into their mouths, and the smell of fragrant meat made them burst into tears.

Not only is it eaten, but it is also meat, and you can't eat such good meat during the New Year.

It was a gift from Lieutenant Colonel Chand, a whole plane of canned SPAM luncheon meat, made of pork, starch and salt spices, greasy, salty, but very hungry.

The soldiers, who had eaten the luncheon meat, soon crouched on the ground and vomited, their weak stomachs unable to stand the irritation of the greasy food, and they reacted violently.

Accompanying the US military transport plane was a colonel of the Central Military Commission, who made a special trip to send a letter to Chen Zikun, which was a letter written by Chairman Chiang himself, and the words were sincere and heartfelt; Chen Zikun was originally a little guilty, but he did not hesitate to agree to the discord between China and the United States when he thought that the discord between China and the United States would affect the overall situation of resistance against Japan, but before going to Chongqing, he still had to do one more thing.

The carrying capacity of C47 was 26,000 pounds, equivalent to 28,000 catties of luncheon meat, which brought life-saving food to the hungry Jiangbei.

Seeing the victims eat the soup made of luncheon meat, Chen Zikun put down the stone hanging in his heart, handed over the command to Chen Qilin, and returned to Chongqing by C47.

Immediately after Chen Zikun arrived, the Military Commission issued an order to restore his active duty to the rank of first-class army general, and his new post was chairman of the Sino-US Liaison Committee, which was directly subordinate to the Military Commission, and could report directly to the chairman of the committee at any time.

Soon after his appointment, Stilwell flew from Kunming to Chongqing, where he met Chiang Kai-shek's request to downsize the troops and remove incompetent commanders, and Chiang Kai-shek patiently introduced him to the new director of the Sino-US Liaison Committee, Chen Zikun.

"Oh, it's you!" Stilwell was pleasantly surprised when he saw Chan, the two shook hands and then hugged warmly, and Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling looked at each other and smiled, feeling that this move was the right move.

However, Stilwell proved to be a hard-nosed man, and he did not recognize the legitimacy of the China-US Liaison Committee at all.

"The Chinese theater of operations has been established, and your country also has military delegations and diplomats in our country, and I don't think there is a need for additional institutions." Stilwell unceremoniously rejected Chiang Kai-shek's request.

However, he changed his words and looked at Chen Zikun: "Chen can work in my staff department and serve as my senior assistant." ”

Chiang Kai-shek breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he put people in it, it didn't matter what position he held, of course, it didn't matter if the United States didn't approve of the organization, the power should be his own unilateral diplomatic organ.

As a result, Chen Zikun became a senior assistant to the chief of staff of the Allied China Theater.

That night, Stilwell declined all entertainment, and only invited Chan and Lieutenant Colonel Chandes to his apartment for a light lunch, Spam luncheon meat and macaroni, coffee and red wine, the meal was simple and the hospitality was very warm.

Stilwell said: "Chen, I'm telling you the truth, I know very well what Peanut Mi thinks, he wants to fish in troubled waters, but he doesn't understand you, you are a real American, from mind to body, you won't be in the same stream as those moths, am I right, my old friend?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "Qiao, my accusation is to coordinate your relations with China, in fact, I am willing to do so, if you are always making trouble, it will only make the Japanese happy." ”

"No, no, no, you don't understand what I mean, I have no objection to good relations with the Chinese, including peanuts, but the premise is that they must do what I say, your appearance will ease the current tensions, but you are appearing as an American and speaking from our standpoint."

Chen Zikun was puzzled: "But I am a Chinese soldier." ”

Stilwell said: "It used to be, but now it's not, I recruited you to join the U.S. Army, and from now on, you will be a U.S. Army officer." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Qiao, you won't let me be your second-class orderly. ”

Stilwell said: "You are a West Point graduate, and you have not been awarded the rank of the United States Army, nor have you joined the reserves, so you can really only start from the lowest rank, but as your commander, I have the right to promote your rank according to your ability and performance, then, you start as a captain, I believe that when the war is over, you will wear the general star." ”